Fresh Cranberry Curd

5 from 8 votes

This Cranberry Curd is a creamy fruit custard made with fresh cranberries, sugar, orange juice and of course butter. It's silky smooth, tart and utterly delicious.

Prep Time10

Cook Time25

Chilling Time3

Total Time3 35

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: English

Servings: cups

Calories: 1098kcal

Author: Cheryl Norris

Equipment

Ingredients

12 ounces (340 grams) fresh or frozen cranberries
1 1/4 cups (250 grams) white sugar
1/4 cup (60 ml) water
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons orange zest
1/4 cup (60 ml) fresh squeezed orange juice
2 large (100 grams) whole eggs
2 large (40 grams) egg yolks
8 tablespoons (113 grams) unsalted butter room temperature

Instructions

If you're using frozen cranberries for this recipe, you don't need to thaw the cranberries.
Place the cranberries in a food processor and pulse the food processor to roughly chop the cranberries.
In a small bowl whisk together the whole eggs and egg yolks. Place a bowl with a medium-coarse strainer next to the stove.
Place the cranberries, sugar, water, and salt in a medium saucepan. Zest the orange directly into the saucepan. Juice the orange and add 1/4 cup of orange juice to the saucepan.
Cook the mixture over medium heat, until it starts to bubble up occasionally, thickens, and measures 1 1/2 cups, 10 to 12 minutes. Strain the cranberry mixture through the medium-coarse strainer into a bowl, pressing on solids with a rubber spatula to extract as much puree as possible. Cool the cranberry puree to room temperature.
Whisk eggs and yolks into cranberry mixture in the bowl. Return the mixture to the saucepan. Place a clean bowl with a fine-mesh strainer near the stove. Cook the cranberry mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula or whisk, until the mixture is thickened and registers 175°F in multiple spots, 5 to 7 minutes.
Off heat, whisk in the butter, 2 tablespoons at a time until well incorporated. Strain the cranberry mixture through the fine-mesh strainer. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the curd, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
The curd can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

Notes

Tasting the Cranberries. Not all cranberries are created equal, some are more tart than others. After the cranberries have cooked down with the sugar and orange juice, taste the mixture. If it is too tart for your taste add another 1/4 cup of sugar and cook for another 2 minutes to dissolve the additional sugar. The final curd should be tart, but not sour.

What to do with curdled curd. Unfortunately, if the curd is allowed to boil it will curdle the eggs and make the curd grainy. You can try straining it twice through a fine-mesh strainer, but that may not remove all the grainy bits.

Making it without butter. If you're allergic to dairy you can make the curd without butter. It will be a little less creamy, but still taste delicious.

Nutrition